Washington 15-year-old arrested four months after assaulting elderly Asian couple in viral video
TACOMA, WASHINGTON STATE: A video where an Asian couple is seen getting assaulted and attacked by a teenager surfaced on social media and resulted in the arrest of a teenager. According to reports, the video was captured in the city of Tacoma and the teenager who attacked the couple was reportedly a 15-year-old.
The video was shared with a caption, "This was in tacoma. These lil mfs was beating on the asian grandparents for no reason." From the voices that are being heard in the video, the woman is heard telling 'don't' repeatedly in Korean, and when that doesn't work she calls out for help in a loud voice in English.
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According to the officials, a teenager was arrested in relation to the incident and was charged with second-degree assault. Tacoma Police Department announced Friday that the incident had taken place on November 19, 2020, however, the police was informed of the incident only on March 31. A local ABC affiliate reported that the suspect, at the time when the incident took place, was 14 years old. The investigators who saw the video identified the teenager as the one who was scheduled to show up for a detention review at Remann Hall on Friday regarding a robbery charge that was unrelated to the Korean-American couple.
Tacoma Washington, Asian elders attacked - Inst - Asianswithattitudes pic.twitter.com/RySOh2bZD0
— HopClear (@HopClear) March 31, 2021
The officers waited for the teenager at the courthouse and then took him under custody. It was also revealed that the video had been shared online last year, however, the officials claimed that they were only informed about the same on March 31. The daughter of the couple who was attacked also saw the video that had gone viral and then called the police to investigate the incident. Local news agencies helped by spreading the word about the incident as they needed the couple to come in and provide further details regarding the attack.
One of the news agencies happened to be Radio Hankook, and Choi from the news outlet said, "We have to speak out, our radio station, and we have to find them." Choi then added, "And then we have to, we want to help them." Hee Jung Lee with Federal Way Korean American Association also spoke about the incident and said, "Our Korean American leaders are calling for victims to be identified and for those responsible to be brought to justice."
Patti Kim with Tacoma Korean American Association also commented about the incident and said, "This kind of hate is not necessary here," and added, "I live here so long my son live here so long. My son born here. It’s my home too. Everybody came here to United States. It’s a melting pot. Hate is something is so difficult for me to digest."
Lee also explained, "I’ve been living in this area for well over two decades and I never felt unsafe in the public areas." It was reported that the crime is yet to be filed under hate crime and the identity of the teenager is yet to be identified as he is a minor.